High windows

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High windows

Larkin a poet in 1967 wrote the poem “high windows” with the main aim of describing sexual freedom that the youth have in the current generation. In his art, he expresses jealousy of what has become as compared to their generation (Larkin & Burnett 10). Larkin worked in a library and was more interacted with students in their late teen or early twenties. He describes the freedom the children are having with sarcasm. The main objective of this paper is to analyze and discuss the poem “high windows”.

As the poet sets out to express his point in a sarcastic way, the speaker refers kids having sex with the word “fuck” which is evident by the chemistry of the teen (Larkin & Burnett 12). He uses the term “paradise” to express the freedom the kids now have. Through this, the age of the speaker as middle aged since he refers to the children as “kids” (13). The speaker also shouts out to elders if they also see what has become of the current generation. In the except, he expresses how elders like the new trend. The speaker says that these days you don’t have to “hide what you think of the priest.” The freedom in religion makes the speaker wonder if there is “no God anymore.” In their times, there was so much effort and pressure when it came to religious activities.

The narrator continues in the second stanza to show how the “freedom” the kids enjoy may not be as easy as it seems. The speaker says, “long slide to happiness endlessly,” this means that slide to happiness is one that do not end. The kids’ “slide” and fail to get back and hence the word “endlessly” (Larkin & Burnett 13). The speaker sets clear that, the slide that once seemed fun and full of happiness may not be as seen. This way he cautions the kids against thinking that it’s all pleasurable and they may be bad consequences.

To conclude, In the third and fourth stanzas, Larkin goes ahead to describe religious freedom and re affirm how the world has people with empathy. Despite the start I first stanza with description of “high”. We an see that high symbolized with “high windows” found in church. High in this case points out the closeness to God since people speak to God while looking up the sky (Larkin & Burnett 14). This way he completes by showing that all is not lost and despite the much religious and sexual freedom and encourage people to get close to Jesus in a line “In the sun-comprehending glass.” The sun stands for Jesus and means that you will go nowhere if you go past Him.

Work cited

Larkin, Philip, and Archie Burnett. The complete poems. Ed. Archie Burnett. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.